Prostate cancer presentation on new procedure Thursday at hospital

The chairman of Pahrump's prostate cancer support group is urging residents to learn more about a 'revolutionary' blood test for the detection of prostate cancer.

Dr. Tom Waters, chairman of the support group, has scheduled a presentation tomorrow evening at Desert View Hospital's training room at 6 p.m.

He said the new procedure, known as 4Kscore, can more accurately detect the presence of the disease.

Representatives from OPKO Health, Inc. will be present to explain the procedure.

"4Kscore is the only blood test that accurately identifies an individual patient's risk for aggressive prostate cancer, which is the lethal form of prostate cancer," he said. "The way technology is changing and evolving, this could change a lot of what we have been looking at in the past. This will maybe cut down on some of the deaths caused by prostate cancer."

Prior to the 4Kscore procedure, physicians relied on what's known as prostate-specific antigen, or PSA.

Waters said the PSA test measures the level of PSA in a man's blood.

"For this test, a blood sample is sent to a laboratory for analysis," he said. "This new blood test will take care of all of that. That's the reason we invited them to come because we still have a lot of questions about it because it is something new."

Additionally, Waters said the new procedure is far more reliable than a biopsy, which a common form of detecting most types of cancer.

"Instead of having to get a biopsy, if you use the new blood test, it tells a lot more than the regular PSA blood test. I think it's going to revolutionize the process for looking at prostate cancer," he said. "Because sometimes you get a biopsy and it shows nothing, so they wait and have another biopsy later."

Thursday's special presentation is different from the regular presentations, scheduled occasionally or when the need to relay information is crucial.

"They are bringing all of the information and hopefully we will have enough people there to ask all of the questions and get the answers," he said. "I would like to do this again, possibly in April at the Pahrump Nugget and then we'll have a much bigger venue."

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com.